The invention disclosed and claimed herein deals with impact suppression devices having energy absorbing capability. The devices of this invention utilize a mated spline configuration for two separate shafts that are movably joined such that they can move linearly. In some instances, the shafts themselves can act as a piston, or a piston is used as part of the components. Further, there is used a gel material which has hydraulic fluid properties when a force is applied to it. This gel is sheared in this application, as opposed to just being pushed like a plug of material. Deceleration of the piston or piston-like shaft can be accomplished by the use of various gels having different properties, such as durometer, crosslink density, consistency, chemical composition, additives to the gels, density of the gels, and, by the volume of material or materials in the device providing a predetermined volume per area.
One such device comprises a hollow tube for a housing with shafts protruding from each end. One shaft end is connected to, for example, a steering wheel of a vehicle, while the other end is connected to the mechanism that does the actual steering of the vehicle. Both shafts are movably connected together by means of a mated spline. The spline assures positive rotations of both shafts simultaneously, and also ensures positive rotations of both shafts in the event of an impact. The arrangement also allows the shaft connected to the steering wheel a means of movement within the spline along the axial direction of the shaft. The housing is fixed solidly within the vehicle body frame by some appropriate mounting means that can be brackets, or the like.
There are several patents disclosing impact resistant devices. One such patent is U.S. Pat. No. 3,435,700, which issued Apr. 1, 1969 to Calhoun in which there is shown a fluid cushioned vehicle steering apparatus comprising a reservoir, a cylinder having longitudinally spaced apertures formed in it and which is journalled for rotation in the reservoir, and a piston and a piston rod arranged for reciprocation in the cylinder. The damping medium is described as a xe2x80x9cfluidxe2x80x9d. Resistance is provided by a combination of the number of apertures, their location, the size of the apertures and the viscosity of the fluid.
Another patent which discloses an impact resistant device is U.S. Pat. No. 3,454,397, which issued Jul. 8, 1969 to Yoshioka, et al. in which there is shown a steering column constituted by first and second axial shaft portions connected together by a casing containing a plastically deformable material. The plastically deformable material is described at column 2, line 25 as being sponge, styrol, cork or the like.
Yet another patent is U.S. Pat. No. 3,350,737, which issued Sep. 29, 1970 to Higginbotham in which there is disclosed a steering column comprised of two shafts that are connected to two chambers. One of the chambers contains a fluid. The valving operates upon impact with the upper shaft to allow movement of the fluid from one chamber to the other upon the application of pressure. The fluid is described at column 6, line 28, as a xe2x80x9chydraulic fluidxe2x80x9d.
Still another patent is U.S. Pat. No. 3,656,366, which issued Apr. 18, 1972 to Somero in which a collapsible steering column is disclosed, and which utilizes hydraulic fluid as the dampening medium and, utilizes hexagonal shafts to ensure continued steering in the event of a crash.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,795,390 deals with a shock absorber having a helical coil spring and elastomeric material intermediate of the coils of the coil spring to form a dual spring unit. The interior of the chamber of the device also contains hydraulic fluid.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,674,354, which issued Jun. 23, 1987 to Brand deals with an automobile steering column having a fixed cylindrical housing enclosing a rotatable steering mechanism composed of a pair of telescoping sections joined in a slidable and shock absorbing splined connection.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,019,403, which issued on Apr. 26, 1977 to Kondo, et al, discloses the use of a solid shaft to move shock-absorbing resilient material from a chamber through an orifice which initially is plugged, and upon movement of the solid shaft, the plug is dislodged and the material flows out of the orifice. The shock absorbing material is disclosed as a silicone rubber which is adapted to be ruptured under a given pressure, and which has the desired resiliency and flow resistance. The xe2x80x9csilicone rubberxe2x80x9d does not appear to be a gel, nor does it appear to have the capability to convert to a crumb rubber upon the application of pressure thereto.
There is a device similar to Kondo, et al, disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,255,986, which issued Mar. 17, 1981 to Mukoyama, in which a similar device is used with the silicone rubber and the exit ports for the material are internal to the housing and through the sidewalls thereof. The essence of the invention in this patent is that the discharge of the silicone rubber into the side chambers where it is contained, prevents the silicone rubber from being discharged into the engine compartment and the silicone rubber is then not subjected to the potential of catching fire.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,463,448, which issued Feb. 17, 1987 to Loren, deals with an energy absorbing steering assembly that employs an elastically deformable plastic foam molded into the cavities between the sleeve and the steering column to absorb energy.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,618,058 that issued on Apr. 8, 1997 to Byon deals with a collapsible steering column apparatus for a motor vehicle in which gas is used as the decelerant.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,482,320 that issued Jan. 9, 1996 to Passebecq deals with a steering column assembly axially retractable in the event of an impact. This assembly uses a force generator that is actuatable upon impact.
Finally, there is disclosed a damping apparatus that utilizes a compressible solid energy absorbing material located in a chamber to absorb energy. Such devices can be found in GB 1,386,645, 1,439,347, and 1,382,131, and U.S. Pat. No. 3,976,287 that issued on Aug. 24, 1976 to Kendall et al. (Menasco Manufacturing Company). According to the disclosure, there is a piston movably mounted within a compressible solid material in a chamber formed within a housing. A piston includes first passages and second passages and the compressible solid material is pushed through the first passages during an extension of the piston, wherein the compressible solid material is also pushed through the second passages during retraction of the piston. There is a ring surrounding the piston, the ring closes off the second passages during extension of the piston and during retraction of the piston the ring moves to permit the compressible solid material to flow back through it. The patent discloses that the typical compressible solid material is conventionally available from Dow Corning Corporation under the trade name of xe2x80x9cSilasticxe2x80x9d.
None of the aforementioned references shows the inventive devices described herein, or the benefits of such devices, the essence of which is described infra.
The invention herein deals with impact suppression devices which are useful for energy absorbing applications such as steering columns on automobiles and trucks; front, side, and rear end collision impact resistance on vehicles, and the like.
Therefore, what is disclosed in more detail is an impact suppression device having energy absorbing capability. The device comprises an elongated housing. The elongated housing has a near end, a distal end, an inside surface, and an inside wall. The elongated housing also has an end cap located on the near end thereof, the end cap having a centered aperture therethrough and the end cap being fixed to the elongated housing. The elongated housing has an alignment plug on the distal end thereof, the alignment plug having a centered aperture through it and the alignment plug being fixed into said elongated housing. There is a component that is a means for mounting the elongated housing. Further, there is a component which is a first solid axially aligned straight shaft inserted through and supported in the centered aperture of the end cap. The first solid axially aligned straight shaft has a near end and a distal end and the shaft extends outside of the elongated housing and has a means on the near end for attachment of a steering means, or for attachment to the body of a vehicle, or the like. The solid axially aligned straight shaft is capable of free reciprocal movement in a direction along the solid straight shaft axial alignment. There is a component which is a second solid axially aligned straight shaft inserted through and supported in the centered aperture of the alignment plug, has a near end and a distal end. The second solid axially aligned straight shaft extends outside of the elongated housing and also has means on the distal end for attachment. The distal end of the first solid axially aligned straight shaft and the near end of the second solid axially aligned straight shaft are detachedly joined together in axial alignment by a spline, said first solid axially aligned straight shaft being capable of free reciprocal movement in a direction along the second solid straight shaft axial alignment upon the application of an applied force. Also, both the first solid axially aligned straight shaft and the second solid axially aligned straight shaft are capable of simultaneous rotation by the use of a mating male and female spline on shafts of the first solid axially aligned straight shaft and the second solid axially aligned straight shaft.
There is a component which is a piston stop plug contained within the elongated housing at a point intermediate of the elongated housing distal end and near end. The piston stop plug is fixedly secured to the inside surface of the elongated housing and the piston stop plug has a near side and a distal side. The piston stop plug has a centered aperture therethrough. The first solid, axially aligned straight shaft passes through and is supported by the piston stop plug.
There is a component that is a predetermined volume of a first gel layer capable of being converted from a unitary solid material to a crumb with properties and characteristics of a hydraulic fluid when pressure is applied to it. The first gel is surmounted on the near side of the piston stop plug. The first gel has a predetermined resistance to an applied force upon it.
There is a piston. The piston is mounted on the first solid axially aligned straight shaft and intimately interfaces with the first gel, the piston has a near side and an outside surface, the piston is located on first solid axially aligned straight shaft such that a reservoir is formed on the piston near side thereof defined by the piston, the inside wall, and the end cap of the elongated housing. The piston has at least one communicative opening through it to the reservoir.
It is contemplated within the scope of this invention to use multiple layers of the gels and therefore, disclosed herein is another embodiment of this invention that is an impact suppression device with energy absorbing capability in which the device comprises that described just above wherein the gel components are used in multiple layers.
Therefore, the first gel in that case, is a predetermined volume of a gel capable of being converted from a unitary solid material to a crumb with properties and characteristics of a hydraulic fluid when pressure is applied to it. The first gel is surmounted on the near side of the piston stop plug. The first gel has a predetermined resistance to an applied force upon it, and in addition, there is a predetermined volume of a second gel capable of being converted from a unitary solid material to a crumb with properties and characteristics of a hydraulic fluid when pressure is applied to it. The second gel is surmounted on the first gel, the second gel has a predetermined resistance to an applied force upon it, such resistance being greater than the resistance of the first gel. Moreover, each succeeding gel layer has a lesser or greater resistance than the preceding gel layer with the proviso that if the first gel layer has a greater resistance to force, then all succeeding gel layers have a greater resistance to force than the preceding gel layer, and with the further proviso that if the first gel layer has a lesser resistance to force, then all succeeding gel layers have a lesser resistance to force than the preceding gel layer. It is also contemplated within the scope of this invention to use mixed gel layers of such materials wherein the resistance to force does not necessarily have to be in ascending or descending order, but may be randomly placed.
Another embodiment of the invention disclosed herein is a device which is essentially an impact suppression device with energy absorbing capability comprising all of the components as described above, but wherein there is a means of varying the size of the communicative openings in the piston, the means comprising a plate interfacing intimately with the distal side of the piston, the plate having a centered axis parallel to the first solid axially aligned straight shaft and having a centered aperture for accepting the first solid axially aligned straight shaft through it. The plate has at least one communicative opening that aligns with the communicative openings in the piston. The plate is rotatable around the centered axis by means of a rotatable turning means, said rotatable turning means comprising elongated arms extending from the plate to a point outside of the distal end of the elongated housing. The arms each have a near end and a distal end, the near end being attached to the plate, the distal end being attached to a handle for rotating the rotating means.
There is a further embodiment of the means to vary the size of openings contemplated within the scope of this invention. The further embodiment contemplates the elongated housing, the means for mounting the elongated housing, the first solid axially aligned straight shaft, the second solid axially aligned straight shaft, the piston stop, at least one predetermined gel, the piston, and the reservoir as set forth above, but varies in the additional means of varying the size of the communicative openings in the piston. This means comprises a plate interfacing intimately with the distal side of the piston, the plate having a centered aperture for accepting the first solid axially aligned straight shaft through it. The plate has a centered axis parallel to the first solid axially aligned straight shaft and the plate has a near side and a distal side. The near side has at least one protrusion on the surface thereof and each protrusion is aligned with a communicative opening in the piston. The plate is capable of moving linearly along the first solid axially aligned straight shaft. The distal side of the plate has a cam surface on it. There is a rotatable cam means having a near end and a distal end. The rotatable cam means comprises a cam plate, wherein the cam plate is fixedly mounted on the near end such that the cam on the cam plate mates operatively with the cam surface of the plate on the distal side of the piston. The rotatable cam means comprises elongated arms extending from the cam plate to a point outside of the distal end of the elongated housing. The arms each have a near end and a distal end wherein the near end is attached to the cam plate and the distal end is attached to a handle for rotating the rotatable cam means.
The devices of this invention described thus far have utilized communicative openings through the piston component to allow for the movement of the gels from one position to the other. In the following embodiments, the communicative openings are contained in the piston stop plug.
Thus, further contemplated within the scope of this invention is an impact suppression device having energy absorbing capability comprising an elongated housing, the elongated housing having a near end, a distal end, an inside surface, and an inside wall. The elongated housing has an end cap located on the near end and the end cap has a centered aperture through it and the end cap is fixed to the elongated housing. The elongated housing further has an alignment plug on the distal end and the alignment plug has a centered aperture through it. The alignment plug is fixed into the elongated housing. There is a means for mounting the elongated housing while the first solid axially aligned straight shaft is inserted through and supported in the centered aperture of the end cap. The solid axially aligned straight shaft has a near end and a distal end and the first solid axially aligned straight shaft extends outside of the elongated housing and has means on the near end for attachment. The solid axially aligned straight shaft is capable of free reciprocal movement in a direction along the solid straight shaft axial alignment upon the application of a force.
The second solid axially aligned straight shaft is inserted through and supported in the centered aperture of the alignment plug. The second solid axially aligned straight shaft has a near end and a distal end. The second solid axially aligned straight shaft extends outside of the elongated housing and has means on the distal end for attachment. The distal end of the first solid axially aligned straight shaft and the near end of the second solid axially aligned straight shaft being detachedly joined together in axial alignment. The second solid axially aligned straight shaft is incapable of free reciprocal movement in a direction along the second solid straight shaft axial alignment. The first solid axially aligned straight shaft and the second solid axially aligned straight shaft are capable of simultaneous rotation by the use of a mating male and female spline on the shafts of the first solid axially aligned straight shaft and the second solid axially aligned straight shaft.
There is a piston stop plug contained within the elongated housing at a point intermediate of the elongated housing distal end and near end. The piston stop plug is fixedly secured to the inside surface of the elongated housing. The piston stop plug has a centered aperture through it. The piston stop plug has a near side and a distal side and the piston stop plug is located such that a reservoir is formed on the piston stop plug distal side thereof defined by the piston stop plug, the inside wall, and the alignment plug of the elongated housing. The piston stop plug has at least one communicative opening through it, opening from the containment area for the piston stop plug to the reservoir, the first solid, axially aligned straight shaft passing through and being supported by said piston stop plug.
There is a predetermined volume of a first gel capable of being converted from a unitary solid material to a crumb with properties and characteristics of a hydraulic fluid when pressure is applied to it. The first gel is surmounted in a containment area on the near side of the piston stop plug, the first gel having a predetermined resistance to an applied force upon it.
A piston is mounted on the first solid axially aligned straight shaft and intimately interfacing with the first gel.
The embodiment described just supra also has the capability of operating through a variation of the openings. These embodiments vary from that described just above by such means which is a component, which is a means of varying the size of the communicative openings in the piston stop plug. The means comprises a plate interfacing intimately with the distal side of the piston stop plug. The plate has a centered axis parallel to the first solid axially aligned straight shaft and has a plate having a centered aperture for accepting the first solid axially aligned straight shaft through it. The plate has at least one communicative opening that aligns with the communicative openings in the piston stop plug. The plate is rotatable around the centered axis by means of a rotatable turning means, the rotatable turning means comprises elongated arms extending from the plate to a point outside of the distal end of the elongated housing, said arms having a near end and a distal end, the near end being attached to the plate, the distal end being attached to a handle for rotating the rotating means.
There is a predetermined volume of a first gel capable of being converted from a unitary solid material to a crumb with properties and characteristics of a hydraulic fluid when pressure is applied to it. The first gel is surmounted on the near side of the piston stop plug, the first gel having a predetermined resistance to an applied force upon it. There is an additional component that is a piston. The piston is mounted on the first solid axially aligned straight shaft and intimately interfacing with the first gel.
Likewise, another method of varying the size in this embodiment is that found by a means of varying the size of the communicative openings in the piston stop plug wherein the means comprises a plate interfacing intimately with the distal side of the first gel. The plate has a centered aperture for accepting the first solid axially aligned straight shaft through it. The plate has a centered axis parallel to the first solid axially aligned straight shaft and the plate has a near side and a distal side. The near side has at least one protrusion on the surface thereof, each said protrusion being aligned with a communicative opening in the piston stop plug. The plate is capable of moving linearly along the first solid axially aligned straight shaft, and the distal side of the plate has a cam surface on it.
There is a rotatable cam means that has a near end and a distal end, wherein the rotatable cam means comprises a cam plate. The cam plate is fixedly mounted on the near end such that the cam on the cam plate mates operatively with the cam surface on the distal side of the piston. The rotatable cam means comprises elongated arms extending from the cam plate to a point outside of the distal end of the elongated housing, said arms having a near end and a distal end, the near end being attached to the cam plate, the distal end being attached to a handle for rotating the rotatable cam means. As above, there is also included a piston. The piston is mounted on the first solid axially aligned straight shaft and intimately interfaces with the rotatable cam means.
There is yet another embodiment of the means for moving the gel from the containment area to a reservoir and such means is one in which the elongated housing has at least one channel in the inside surface thereof, which channel provides a communication between the first gel and the reservoir.
Finally, it is contemplated within the scope of this invention that one skilled in the art can use a combination of channels in the inside walls of the elongated housing and the communicative openings in either of the piston or piston stop plug.